08 February 2010

The Superbowl really is one of those great American traditions. True to form, along with this most American of tradition, comes several images of the American fighting man and woman in uniform. We were treated to a fly-by of F-15 fighter jets, troops from all branches of the Armed Services serving as the color guard while Carrie Underwood sang the national anthem, and shots of American service men and women around the world looking on, as they watched the Superbowl in real time.

What really got to me, however, were the new US Navy uniforms, which are replacing the old dungaree-style uniforms and khakis that we've seen sailors wear since the Second World War. Something tells me that if we'd seen Maverick and Goose wearing these things in Top Gun, no one would want to join the Navy to fly F-14s. These really are kind of ugly. Not to mention, what are they blending in with? Are they trying to hide from the cruise missile that's attacking the ship? The only sailors that will actually need a camouflage uniform will probably be SEALs, doctors, maybe a few other specialty fields...and if they really need a camouflage uniform, they'll steal one from the Marines, most likely.

That, plus this link from Strike-Hold (H/T Pat O) got me thinking about uniforms worn by militaries all over the world. Note the trend towards pixelated uniforms; a trend which, I hate to say, we stole from the Canadians. Also of note is a greater emphasis on no-shine boots (championed by the US Marine Corps), pockets accessible while wearing body armor, and desert-style uniforms being worn in some decidedly non-desert countries.

Let's take the world tour. Shout-outs go to my fans from around the world, of course. Again, this is courtesy of Strike-Hold, which is the #1 shop for all things camouflage:

I can imagine some command sergeant major in the US military seething at this Austrian's mustache. Impressive, though. Anyway, it's interesting to note that the Austrian's uniform is not only pixelated, but very much desert-colored, perhaps due to Austria's support of the UN missions in the Golan Heights and Chad?

These Bosnians are wearing a pattern very similar to the US Marine Corps' woodland "MARPAT" uniform.

The Finns had some interesting pixelated uniforms, but I wanted to highlight this one for winter operations. The US military, as near as I can tell, doesn't issue snow camouflage any more. Well, at least I haven't seen it at Fort Drum, and that's about as snowy as you can get in the US...

Iran, of course, decides to create a uniform which looks all too much like the US Army's Universal Camouflage Pattern. First they get American F-14s, now they have our uniforms, too?

And, of course, Lebanon not only wears the US Army's UCP, but they also call their special forces "SEALs"

The Poles have adopted the Multicam pattern, apparently...

The Swiss have desert uniforms, too?

Anyway, Strike-Hold always has great military news. As a tribute to my fans in Denmark, you can not only check out their new desert pixelated uniforms, but you can also read how Danish special forces re-claimed a ship which had been taken over by pirates off the coast of Somalia.

I look at that uniform, and all I can think of is Marine wannabe. Seriously, I always appreciated that the Navy had a distinct uniform that made them different from their other service counterparts. Why try and look the same, especially when a camouflaged uniform serves no real purpose? Why waste good taxpayer money to design a new uniform?!